Stories about Egypt from April, 2009
Palestine: Twittering Gazan Mom Stranded at Cairo Airport Deported after 36 Hours
Her tweets have gone silent and her last message spoke of a deportation to somewhere other than home. Home is Gaza in Palestine, which Laila El-Haddad and her two American-born children Yousuf and Noor can't travel to, to be reunited with their grandparents except through the Rafah Crossing on the Egyptian-Palestinian border - which is closed. Egypt won't let them through; and El-Haddad's visa to the US, where she has flown in from to the Cairo Airport where she was stranded for 36 hours, had expired. Where is the Twittering Palestinian mother and what has happened to her and her children?
Egypt: Stranded Palestinian Mother Tweets Ordeal from Cairo Airport
The ordeal of a Palestinian mother and her two children, who have been stranded at the Cairo International Airport for an entire day so far, has engaged Twitter users across the region today. Journalist Laila El-Haddad, who is en route to Gaza from the US via Cairo, kept her followers, friends and the general public informed of her ordeal through a string of tweets at GazaMom, creating another cycle of retweets, Facebook entries and blog commentaries as hope dimmed and her stamina was put to test.
Egypt enters new GPS era
Egyptian Zeinobia reports on Egyptian Chronicles: “At last the GPS ban is lifted in Egypt thanks to a Presidential decree issued recently. NTRA has approved the use and import of GPS mobile phones and cars with GPS navigation system.”
Egypt: Social Resistance Blog Available in Spanish
“News of the Egyptian social resistance is now available in Spanish and Catalan,” reports Arabawy, from Egypt.
Egypt: 90th Anniversary of Egyptian Revolution
“This month Egypt should have celebrated as a country officially the 90th anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution in 1919. I am not shocked by the poor and sad reception of the anniversary in Egypt but I am angry from this silly fight between the Wafdists and the nationalists/Nasserists/ Socialists on...
Egypt: Mystery surrounds Sudan airstrike
“About two weeks have elapsed, a bunch of fanciful reports have come out, but we still don’t know much more about the airstrike in North Sudan that Israel, or possible the United States, allegedly carried out,” writes The Arabist from Egypt.
Egypt: Activist Ahmed Ala'a Arrested
Mo Eltaher's Blog from Egypt (Ar) reports that activist Ahmed Ala'a has been arrested in Egypt for participating in the April 6 Day of Anger. The blogger posts his photograph but no information about his charges.
Egypt: April 6 – A Day of Anger
On the first anniversary of the April 6 strike, Egyptians failed to carry out a similar national strike. Months before the day, voices were getting louder asking people of all walks of life to take part in a new national strike to protest against the low economic status, and to demand a democratic reform in the "Day of Anger,” reports Eman AbdElRahman.
Egypt: The 1919 Revolution
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia writes about the 1919 revolution in her country and notes: “How can you unite millions of people across the country where no TVs or radios or internet or facebook or even real roads !! How can you send your message to all those millions across a country...
Egypt: Forty arrested in “day of protest”
‘The short story: what had been talked about nonstop for the past month as a “day of anger” with national outbreaks of protests all over the place completely fizzled out with a pathetic whimper. About 40 people were arrested, mostly in Kafr al-Sheikh, and security presence was slightly more massive...
Global Job Losses and Returning Migrant Workers
This post focuses on the stories of the unemployed and migrant workers who are returning home to their countries. Job layoffs are perceived by most people as the primary and most recognizable indicator of the global economic recession. How has unemployment affected individuals around the world? In what ways the reverse migration of workers creating problems for developing nations?
Egypt: Baha'is attacks spark outcry
On April 2, several human rights organizations headed to the public prosecutor in solidarity with the Baha'is who were assaulted in Sohag after a journalist called them reverts and urged people to kill them. Marwa Rakha covers online initiatives and the outcry which followed.
Egyptian Baha'is under attack
Earlier in March, Marwa Rakha wrote a post congratulating Baha'is in Egypt when the Supreme Administrative Court removed any grounds for preventing them from receiving proper official identity documents. Today she reports that after a television appearance featuring Baha'is, Baha'i houses were burnt down in Upper Egypt's governorate - Sohag.
Egypt's First Adult Graphic Novel on Trial
In April 2008, freedom of speech and creativity in Egypt was hit in its core with the confiscation of Magdy El Shafee's adult graphic novel - Metro. Marwa Rakha sums up reactions from the blogosphere about the court case awaiting Shafee and the book's publisher Mohamed El Sharkawy.
Egypt: Schizophrenia Towards Israel
Mo-ha-med, an Egyptian blogger who is based in Ramallah, outlines the schizophrenia he feels Egypt has towards Israel: “We can summarise this attitude as follows: economic and political accords, smiling handshakes on the one hand, with constant expressions of dislike, defiance and distrust on the other.”
